Word of the battle between the subjugation army and the rebel army was spreading quietly throughout the Imperial Capital.
Since the battle had been predicated on defeat from the start—a mere probe to see what cards the opposition held—Prince Schuls had no intention of making a grand announcement. Still, rumors were impossible to quash entirely. Between the soldiers who had fled back from the front and the people in the villages and towns along the highway who had witnessed the retreat, the news of the subjugation army’s rout was circulating as an open secret.
Of course, Schuls did not expect he could completely silence the masses. If he truly wished to prevent a leak, he would have had to execute every survivor and purge every villager who had witnessed the flight.
At any rate, the reality of the defeat was known to anyone with even a modicum of intelligence-gathering ability. It was less a matter of those in the know and more a state of public secrecy.
In the midst of this atmosphere...
"It’s no use. Just as I thought, there's no word of Crimson lurking among the rebels."
The voice echoed within a room of a nondescript building inside the Imperial Capital.
"...But it is a fact that he’s close with Princess Vihera, isn't it? Since she’s cooperating with the rebel army, there’s a high probability that Crimson has joined them."
"I suspect as much, but he didn't actually appear on the battlefield, you know?"
"Either he hasn't arrived yet, or he's operating elsewhere... That’s likely the case."
"Normally, we’d tail him to find his whereabouts, but having a Gryphon as a means of transport is a nightmare. We always end up a step behind. Even if we get word of his location and head there, he’s already vanished by the time we arrive."
The woman sighed as she reached for a piece of fruit on a plate. She paused, then asked the man in front of her with concern, "Do you want some too, Shistoi?"
"No, I’m fine. I haven't had much of an appetite since that incident."
Shistoi muttered his reply, his focus concentrated on his own back even as Mura watched him.
Seeing her partner like that, Mura merely whispered a quiet "I see."
Mura and Shistoi, members of the Requiem Bell, had been the ones to attack Rei in the fighting tournament's waiting room. However, due to Rei's preposterous combat strength, the ambush had ended in failure. During the struggle, Rei had snatched the poison dagger they were using and hurled it back at Shistoi, wounding him.
Because Shistoi had spent his life as a skilled assassin in the underworld, he had managed to endure the lethal poison on the blade and survived, but it was not as though he had escaped without scars. His lack of appetite was one such lingering side effect.
He didn't know if the condition was temporary or if it would haunt him for the rest of his life, but Shistoi felt lucky just to be alive. Even the loss of appetite wasn't absolute; if he forced himself, he could eat normally.
Sensing Mura’s worry, Shistoi dropped the subject of his health and returned to their business.
"In any case, our order to kill Crimson still stands. We have to think of a way to get close to him."
Mura swallowed the sweet-and-sour fruit in her mouth and furrowed her brows as if the taste had suddenly turned bitter.
"It’s difficult. The biggest problem is that he knows your face, Shistoi."
"...And to be honest, even if we can get close, we can't touch him in a head-on fight. Poison is our best bet, but since we’ve already failed once, he’ll be on high alert."
"And as for the Dolls, we don't have any that can stand up to a fighter of that caliber."
Between the two of them, Shistoi—who served as the primary combatant—could not win against Rei no matter what. Even a surprise attack was risky with the Gryphon Seto standing guard. Mura, who brainwashed others to use them as dolls, faced less personal risk, but Rei was not someone who could be handled by mere puppets.
They were at a complete dead end. That was the consensus between Mura and Shistoi.
"But if we can't complete this contract, we’ll be the ones in the crosshairs next."
"I know."
The Requiem Bell was legendary in the underworld, but their code was correspondingly ruthless. Their attacks prior to the ambush in the waiting room had been justified as probes to confirm the target's strength. Officially, even the waiting room ambush was recorded as an attempt to force the target to reveal his hidden cards.
However, such excuses wouldn't last forever. Lately, they had begun to notice that the gazes directed at them during progress reports were filled with growing suspicion.
"Honestly, expecting just the two of us to face a monster like that is ridiculous. If the higher-ups are serious about dealing with Crimson, they should send more people—and not just some dime-a-dozen thugs, but actual skilled talent."
"You’re asking for the impossible."
Shistoi replied with a faint, bitter smile. They both knew they were already among the most capable members of the current Requiem Bell.
(Though that doesn't mean a thing in our current situation. Every other skilled agent is tied up with their own contracts. In the end, it’s down to Mura and me.)
He pushed the thought aside and focused on their next move.
"No matter how we handle Crimson, we have to be near him. Finding his destination is our top priority, but..."
"So it comes back to that."
"No matter how skilled we are, we can't kill a target we can't find. I never expected Crimson would actually leave Margrave Larkus's side."
"Like I said earlier, I think he’s with the rebel army. Since our faces are known, infiltrating them ourselves would be problematic. Should we ask the organization to send someone else to do the scouting?"
"It may be our only choice."
After a moment's deliberation, Shistoi nodded. Without a target, the mission was impossible. They had to find Rei.
To be honest, Shistoi was reluctant to involve other members. He was afraid their previous failure might be exposed, and he feared that if a clumsy agent were caught, Rei might trace the connection back to them.
As Shistoi weighed these concerns, Mura spoke up as if she had suddenly realized a new problem.
"Hey, I just thought of something... what if Crimson is just off hunting monsters somewhere?"
"What would we do then? ...Well, what would we do?"
"I'm the one asking, don't answer a question with a question."
Mura huffed, but the reality was grim. If he was with the rebel army, they at least had a base to investigate. But if, as Mura suggested, he was off in the mountains or forests hunting, they had no way to track him.
To make matters worse, Mura had gathered intelligence that one of Rei’s interests was magic stone collecting. It was a very plausible scenario. Finding a man who could move freely through the sky on a Gryphon would be beyond difficult.
"...I don't even want to imagine it," Shistoi muttered.
"Agreed."
They exchanged a long look, silently praying that Rei was indeed with the rebel army.
At the same time, in a corner of the Imperial Capital where the noble estates clustered, a roar of fury shattered the quiet of a certain mansion.
"Stop making a fool of me!"
The shout was accompanied by the sound of something shattering.
The room was an office, equipped with heavy soundproofing to prevent eavesdropping. Because of this, no sound leaked into the hallway; otherwise, the servants would have been wide-eyed with shock. They would have wondered why their master, normally known for his thoughtful and composed nature, was so agitated.
Count Schwindel had many reasons for his rage.
For one, the man who had murdered his daughter's fiancé had not only finished as runner-up in the fighting tournament to the acclaim of the entire city, but he had also had the audacity to snub the award ceremony at the castle. On top of that, the man had abandoned the employer he was supposed to be guarding and vanished.
Crimson was gone, and all word of him had ceased.
Despite having hired the Requiem Bell to dispose of him, there had been no report. When the man hadn't appeared at the ceremony, the Count had inquired with the organization, only to be told that the contract was still unfulfilled.
He had wondered if an assassin hired by another noble had beaten them to it. Crimson was being celebrated in the capital now, but he was still the man who had decimated the imperial army during the Spring War. It was only natural that others would harbor a grudge... but the reports that the man had openly departed the capital made that theory impossible to sustain.
In other words, the man who was essentially his mortal enemy had disappeared. The Count even feared that Rei might leave the Bestia Empire entirely and return to the Kingdom of Mireana.
Normally, such anxiety might be dismissed as overthinking, but Crimson possessed a Gryphon. He had heard that the creature’s flight speed far surpassed even the Wyverns of the Dragon Knights. With ten days having passed since the man went missing, it was entirely possible he was already back in Mireana.
"That... That I will never allow! I will never forgive him!"
In a fit of pique, he swept his hand across his desk, sending a glass pitcher flying. it shattered against the floor, spilling water everywhere.
Count Schwindel didn't even notice. He threw a chair at a painting on the wall, tearing the canvas as it fell. If his usual circle of sycophants had seen this, they would have doubted their eyes.
Since the report of her fiancé's death, his daughter had been shut away in her room, paralyzed by shock. Since losing his wife to illness years ago, his daughter's happiness had been his only purpose. Her engagement to that noble had been political, but they had been childhood friends who grew into lovers. They were supposed to be married after the Spring War... and then came that defeat.
The result was this current nightmare.
Count Schwindel understood that dragging a wartime grudge this far was unbecoming. But even so, he could not forgive the man responsible for his daughter’s broken state.
"Crimson... That bastard. Where did he go? Where did he vanish to?! Damn it, what is the Requiem Bell doing? They took a massive advance payment and still haven't finished him! I thought they were supposed to be the elite of the underworld!"
He screamed at the empty air, but no answer came. This only fueled his fury, leading to further destruction.
Had he known at that moment that Rei was with Vihera and the rebel army, the Count might have led his own house's forces on a suicidal charge toward their camp, regardless of the distance from his own territory.
Fortunately, however, Count Schwindel had no way to find him. He could do nothing but nurse his growing irritation within his walls. As the days passed and the Count's rage deepened, a thick shroud of unease began to settle over everyone who worked in the mansion.